a journal of finding good food and restaurants i love to eat in Taipei when I'm not in Los Angeles. looking forward to hearing from other food lovers about where your favorite places to eat are, so i can try them next!

event: i recommend TAS FOOD FAIR 2012

Kid friendliness: public event at the Taipei American School. Very kid friendly with games and bounce houses, but crowded

Visited reviewed: 10/27/2012

When I was in high school, oh so long ago, we had a food fair. I don't remember much except that we marinated chicken and made over 100 teriyaki skewers to grill, made paper signs for our booth and it was a in a dirt field at our school for students and teachers to raise money for their clubs. The food fair at the Taipei American School is a fancier and bigger version of that, with parents and local businesses doing the cooking and selling and open to the public.

With a NT$20 entrance fee, the parking lots of TAS have been converted into game booths, dessert booths and food booths. There's also performances in the center where I heard Gangnam Style being blasted at least 5 times throughout the morning.

I grabbed a sample of See's Candies...

and spied adorable bars of Halloween chocolate and custom chocolate bars from ChocoForAll.

It's best to show up early as it gets more crowded throughout the day and sometimes the food runs out and seating is limited. The first year I went, almost everything was gone as I went in the late afternoon. Last year, I grabbed some delish smoked paprika Galician styled octopus from DN Innovacion.

It's a great place to find some different flavors, with booths featuring food from Singapore (laksa and curry chicken), India, Korea, New Zealand (lamb chops), Germany (sausages and bretzels), Indonesia, Brazil, US (Costco hot dogs and chips), Taiwan, Turkey (Turkish ice cream), and more. Dishes and packaged in small portions and priced under NT$200.

Last year, I waited in line forever for sauteed mushrooms (NT$100) from Wendel's, only to have them run out when I was next in line. So this year, I had to grab a plate when the line seemed to be moving quickly. If you don't want to wait in line, you can order the mushrooms at any of their bistros.

Mmm.

I admit I'm a creature of habit, so I had to return to get my plate of Brazilian picanha bbq steak plate (NT$150). Homemade by TAS parents, it's a dish you're not going to easily find in Taipei elsewhere. I was a bit bummed to see there didn't seem to be as much steak, since they added some spicy sausage to the plate.

So good! Maybe one year they'll offer up fried plantains as a side dish.

The sun was coming out so it was time to get in line again, this time for mango snowflake shaved ice which came in a handy cone-like plastic cup, which made it easy to walk around and eat.

Cute penguin shaved ice machine.

Finally!

I didn't try it, but even the W Hotel came out this year, with some mini nachos and veggie paninis. They had some cocktails, but were sold out.

Another option for dessert this year was the new froyo player in town, Yoppi, which was on the game side of the fair. I got a small cup of original tart with two mochi toppings (NT$100).. they have a shop right near the school on ZhongShan, so was doing some promotions.

A fun and tasty event to visit if you hear about it, even if you're not a student or alumni (which I am neither!). The time changes every year, but is usually around October. TAS also has various other events open to the public during the year, as does TES, the European School, but the food fair is the only one I've ended up checking out. Expect to wait in a lot of lines, but bring some friends and flashback to your days in high school.

2 comments:

dudeee, YOU WENT TO TAS AND DIDNT TRY THEIR CAFETERIA PIZZA?!?! hahaha as an international school student in taiwan, all of us loved going to TAS for tournaments. cus they had the BEST food especially the pizza! try it next time if you get a chance!

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